Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The New 'It' Girl.

Yup. I've been tagged.

Quite often when I am tagged for blog memes, I postpone writing the answer until I just eventually forget about it. I would really try to forget this one too-- but each time I do, yetanother person tags me for the same game.

So here are some answers for you:

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

1. Trying to decide whether to try to get pregnant at the end of the summer. (I did.)2. Trying to finish my dissertation before getting pregnant. (I did not.)3. Trying to read the entire oeuvre of Amanda Cross, author of mystery novels about that great academic sleuth Kate Fansler. (I did read them all--and perhaps that is related to why I failed that year to finish my dissertation. Of course, all-day morning sickness also contributed.)

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

#1 – Knit yet another dishcloth, my current obsession (which started Saturday evening). Convince myself to sew in ends. (Something inside must be screaming for simplicity.)#2 – Try to come to terms with all those "used" (ie, seconds) tomatoes rotting next to the canning jars on the kitchen table.#3 – Wash my hair before tonight's all important social engagement: knitting group!#4 – Water the wee corn spears struggling to survive in their fight against the very hungry neighborhood squirrels.#5 – Read all three long books due back to the library this evening.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Anything with alcohol. Gin and Tonics. French 75s. Dirty Martinis. Sidecars with good brandy.Anything with fat and salt. Yummm. Example: the eggplant fries I often get at Adega, the wine bar where my knitting group meets tonight... Yummm...

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:Parent. Write. Read. Knit. Spin. Garden. Cook. Try to live simply and sustainably.Then, create a space of my own where I can escape from parenting to write, read, knit, and spin. Have more space for both cooking and gardening. And keep chickens in the outdoor space I don't need for digging.5) Places I have lived:

Born in North Carolina, then moved to my parents' hometown in South Carolina for high school. (My parents still tease me about being a Yankee since I was born a few miles over the border of SC in NC.) Went to college in Massachusetts. (Lost most of my accent after the first three and a half years. Only got to enjoy not being told to "say it again!" for one semester.) Went to graduate school in Pennsylvania. Got a job in Washington, DC where I lived for two years before moving to an old hippie inner suburb in Maryland. (I can walk to DC in ten minutes.)

6) Jobs I have had:

1. 1976: Fortune Teller at elementary school Halloween fair. I read palms and also performed scrying in a bowl of water. (Unfortunately, I lost the touch before I learned how to make this talent pay.)2. 1978: Babysitter--long enough to save up for a very fancy bright blue bicycle with a basket on the front and a squeeze horn. (It was stolen the day after I bought it.)3. 1980: Princess Leia at a picture booth at an amusement park. (Check out your vacation shots from your summer at the beach in 1980. That girl with the spiral braids pinned to her ears? Me. And it was my real hair, too.)4. 1982: Iced Tea girl at a chain steakhouse during the summers.5. 1984: Afterschool all-purpose flunkie for a tiny real estate agency. I learned how to type for the two young men who ran the company, and got propositioned for the first time. And the second time.6. 1986: Housing coordinator for visiting applicants at my college. Whenever I was stuck with too many prefrosh wanting housing, I would call on the volunteer who filled out the form as "Jamie!"--complete with the exclamation point. Still don't know if it was a male or a female, but s/he never turned me down.7. Teacher (and writer) for all of my semi-adult and adult life--at places as diverse as a summer camp for the heinously gifted, a university for deaf students, and a class with only one pupil. The latter continues. It is the job I have most enjoyed out of all of them--and also the easiest, since the pupil (my 9yo son) does most of the teaching himself.

Out of respect for the fact that everybody I read seems to have been tagged already, I'll just let things die over in this corner....